The city was founded in 1816 by chief John Ross under the name Ross’s Landing as the center of trade with the Cherokee Indians. In 1838, after the violent transfer of the Cherokee (see trail of Tears), the city was renamed Chattanooga, probably after the name of a rocky promontory on the nearby Lookout Mountain.

During the American Civil War, important battles took place near Chattanooga. The Battle of Chickamauga was waged about 20 km southwest on September 19-20, 1863, and the Battle of Chattanooga in and around the city followed from November 23-25, 1863.

Khattanooga became an important industrial site in the 20th century, causing massive pollution. In the 1960s, Walter Cronkite said that the city was considered the "most dirty city in America." It is now largely free from industrial pollution.

development

¹ 1980-2010: census results; 2016: US Census Bureau estimate

town twinning

Chattanooga identifies seven cities as sister cities:

• Korea Sud Gangneung in South Korea
• Israel Giva'atajim in Israel
• Germany Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia / Germany, since 1977
• Russia's Nizhny Tagil
• Japan Tokyo in Japan
• Germany Wolfsburg in Lower Saxony / Germany, since 2011
• China People's Republic of Wuxi in the People's Republic of China

Chattanooga is home to the historic Walnut Street Bridge. Built between 1889 and 1891, the bridge is located on Walnut Street and overlooks the Tennessee River. It was listed as a historical monument on 23 February 1990 by the National Register of Historic Places with the number 90000300.

music

Reproduction of the Choo Choo Chattanooga, part of a hotel complex with accommodation in the carriages

The swinging play Chattanooga Choo Choo, recorded by Glenn Miller in 1941, tells of a steam loco trip from New York City to Chattanooga. The title sold more than a million times in the year of publication. On February 10, 1942 a Golden Record was awarded for this first time in the history of music.

The annual Riverbend Festival is one of the three largest open-air events in the United States.

economy

Local businesses are a mix of manufacturing and service industries, there are three colleges and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In addition to the converted railway station, the city’s main tourist attractions include the Tennessee Aquarium, one of the world’s largest freshwater aquariums, and the restored city center. The Walnut Street Bridge is one of the largest pedestrian bridges in the world.

As announced by the executive board of Volkswagen AG on July 15, 2008, the first new US plant with an annual capacity of 150,000 cars will be built in Chattanooga in the Enterprise South Industrial Park, some 17 km east of the city center. To this end, the company invested around $1 billion in the site. It has its own freight station to deliver the materials and load the finished vehicles. Land management, water management and new forest management on the former forest site are considered exemplary. The first vehicles - a larger US version of the VW Passat model - ran at the opening of the plant on 24 March. May 2011 from the band. In 2017, the VW plant employed 2100 people.

The German engineering group Voith operates a plant in the city of the Voith Hydro Inc.

traffic

In Chattanooga, three major highways intersect. However, it is not only car traffic that is an important economic factor in the city, but for a long time Chattanooga has been particularly important as a railway hub of the region, with the distribution function to the north, west and south. However, passenger traffic was completely discontinued and the Victorian-style historic railway station, which was closed in 1970, was transformed into a hotel complex with old passenger cars. The main railway station buildings serve as the lobby and restaurant, and the hotel's guests stay in the modern equipped railway vehicles.

Since 2014, the Ironman Chattanooga triathlon has been held here every year in July (3.86 km of swimming, 180.2 km of cycling and 42.195 km of running).

• Nathan L. Bachman (1878-1937), politician
• Phelan Beale (1881-1956), lawyer and uncle of Jacqueline Onassis (1929-1994)
• Lovie Austin (1887-1972), blues and jazz pianist, arranger and composer
• Bessie Smith (1894-1937), blues singer
• Charlie Lewis (* 1903), jazz pianist
• Grady Sutton (1906-1995), actor
• George W. Wheland (1907-1962), chemist
• Yusef Lateef (1920-2013), jazz musician
• David M. Abshire (1926-2014), politician
• Bill McKinney (1931-2011), actor
• Norman Blake (* 1938), country musician
• Ishmael Reed (* 1938), author
• Clyde Stubblefield (1943-2017), drummer
• John Piper (* 1946), Baptist pastor, professor and author
• George S. Clinton (* 1947), film composer
• Roscoe Tanner (* 1951), tennis player
• Leslie Jordan (* 1955), actor
• Tamara Jernigan (* 1959), NASA astronaut
• Terry Gordy (1961-2001), Wrestler
• Mark Taylor (* 1961), Jazz-Waldhornist
• Reggie White (1961-2004), Football player
• Lori Petty (* 1963), actress
• Ralphie May (1972-2017), comedian and actor
• Usher Raymond (* 1978), singer
• Ryan Martin (* 1993), Boxer
• Reggie Upshaw (* 1995), basketball player